#ComicBytes: The story of Kang the Conqueror, MCU's upcoming mega-villain
What's the story
Recently it was confirmed that Jonathan Majors is joining the cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as Kang the Conqueror. For newer fans, he may seem like just another one-movie villain, but ardent fans of Marvel comics know that Kang is a Thanos-level threat with the potential of disrupting the entire Marvel Universe. Here are some essential details about this time-traveling supervillain.
Origin
To stop his evil transformation, Kang founded the Young Avengers
Kang the Conqueror was born as Nathaniel Richards in the 30th century, in an alternate reality on Earth-6311, which was a peaceful place, thanks to the intervention of Nathaniel's alternate self from Earth-616. Surprisingly, once he met his evil future self (Kang the Conqueror), Nathaniel decided to go back in time to start the Young Avengers as Iron Lad to prevent his evil transformation.
Rama Tut
On his first 'evil' time jump, Nathaniel became Rama Tut
Eventually, Nathaniel leaped to his future to follow his destined path of being a villain and forgot about his Iron Lad days. As he grew up, he got bored with all the peace and built a time machine to travel back to the ancient past. On his first time jump, he became Egyptian Emperor Rama Tut before being defeated by the time-displaced Fantastic Four.
Becoming Kang
Kang went on a quest to conquer all the eras
After his defeat, Nathaniel was transported into the future of his own timeline. Here, he took the name Kang and used his knowledge of time travel and the technology of many different eras to conquer his future world. Since then, he has been on a quest to defeat superheroes and conquer the entirety of history, which means all the past, present, and future eras.
Identities
He has countless versions of himself
According to Marvel's rules of time travel, a new version of Kang is created every time he travels through time. Some of the prominent Kang variants (other than the ones we have discussed) are Immortus, Scarlet Centurion, and Victor Timely. His constant time travel has resulted in countless versions, who are all placed under the Council of Cross-Time Kangs and the Council of Kangs.
Abilities
Kang's advanced battle armor makes him a formidable villain
Kang doesn't have any superpowers, except for his increased life span. But his battle armor not only enables him to time travel but also gives him superhuman strength, durability, the ability to summon any number of weapons and release electric bolts, among other powers. Additionally, he is a brilliant military tactician with mastery in armed and unarmed combat and has superior intellect and willpower.